Team 8B
8B Builders
Can you believe it’s already mid-February? This school year is well underway, and Team 8B students are working harder than ever. We are busy learning and applying new strategies to improve fluency, comprehension, math applications and data interpretation. With the state testing just around the
corner, we are fine-tuning and enthusiastically applying all skills learned in the classroom to be the best
that we can be!
Language Arts
In reading, students have recently completed their Independent Reading unit. Students had their choice of
three novels including: Night by Elie Wiesel, Hiroshima by John Hersey, and The Bomb by Theodore Taylor. Students were responsible for reading the novels on their own and then completing a variety of quizzes and enrichment activities. In class, students read the play The Diary of Anne Frank. Most students were humbled after reading
about Anne’s experience. Through visual aids such as diagrams, video clips, and televised interviews of Anne’s loved
ones, students were able to get a better understanding of what life was like for the Franks, VanDaans, and Dr. Dussel. It is truly remarkable that anyone survived such adversity.
Soon we will be reading Call of the Wild. This novel tells the tale of Buck, the southland dog, who
is kidnapped and taken to the Yukon to be a sled dog. Students have experienced a range of emotions
while reading this heartfelt tale; from sadness and frustration when Buck is beaten by the man in the red
sweater, to triumph when Buck defeats the evil Spitz in the ultimate death match. We have also discussed Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and its role in this story. Check out your son’s or daughter’s “Buck’s
Travel Log” in which he or she personifies Buck through chapter summaries, illustrations, and predictions.
In addition to grammar, we are emphasizing writing skills. We are finishing up our narrative unit
and next we will be working on persuasive essays that deal with several topics including community improvements, current issues, and teen related topics. Our 8B students are encouraged to choose topics
they feel strongly about. Then they will be researching facts to support their opinions. Once their facts
are organized, they will write their essays and edit them.
Whether reading together or discussing an essay, one thing is for sure; we are all working very
hard to accomplish the objectives and goals we have set for ourselves this year. It’s not always easy, but
together we are finding success one step at a time!
Team 8B
Continued:
Algebra
The “House That Math Built” project was a success. Students did an excellent job on it. The
Algebra class is working on formulas and graphs. Advanced Algebra is working on factoring and rational expressions. ISAT testing is right around the corner. Classes will review material and work on
open ended questions. This will be a basic review of the year. We will also be implementing more geometry into our lessons.
Social Studies
Currently, we are studying the origins of the Cold War. Topics we will examine include the Policy of Containment and its effect on McCarthyism, the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, and the Cuban
Missile Crisis during the fifties and sixties. We will study the “Decade in Review” exploring world news,
national news, sports, entertainment, health, and technology, as well as the effects of television on
American culture. We continue to develop our knowledge of the world as we apply map skills in historical context to the areas under study, as well as through daily geography practice. Students delved
further into the Policy of Containment by completing a DBQ (Document Based Question) activity in
which the geography of the Cold War was examined using 3 map documents. Students also created
their own “piece of the Berlin Wall” as part of this unit of study, which will culminate with a Fifties Day
on Thursday, February 16th.
BERLIN AIRLIFT
Science
In Science, students studied the unit on atomic theory and the periodic table of elements.
They learned about the structure of the atom and made Bohr models representing theirelement that
they present to the class with some background information such as the history of the element’s discovery, occurrence in nature, and uses. Students learned how the periodic table is used to classify elements as well as predict reactivity of elements based on their position on the periodic table. Students
also learned about ionic and covalent bonding of elements to form compounds.